Boo! (At the zoo)

We took Avery to Boo at the Zoo this past Sunday with her cousins. The weather was pretty nice the first few hours and then it got cold. I think Avery had a good time seeing her cousins and all of the costumes.

 

We took Avery to the audiologist today for a hearing aid evaluation. She showed us an example of how loud normal conversation is and then she showed us how Avery hears, based on her test results. Tim and I could hardly hear anything. Now I feel bad for waiting this long to do something about her ears. No wonder she isn’t talking yet. They did a mold of her ears and in a few weeks, she should have her new hearing aids! They try to make it fun for kids and offer a variety of colors for the outside part and the part that goes in her ear can even have sparkles in it. We just went with basic colors and clear for the inside. If she is still wearing these when she is older, she can pick out what color she wants.

I got my new camera yesterday. I finally got a "real" camera as I like to call it. It's a Nikon D5200 DSLR. You can change all the shutter speeds and aperture, etc. Luckily it has an Auto mode which I will be using until I have it figured it. I am going to a photography class next week. If was $65 for two people for 3 hours. You can't pass that up. Grandma S is going to be watching Avery so I can go. Thank you so much grandma S!

Hopefully you all will see my photography improve in the next blog post because I will no longer always be using pics from my cell phone. 

I love to tickle myself!

Mmmmm pistachio pudding 

Hanging out with my friend Aria at the mall 

Look, I'm driving a car

After 20 minutes, I finally warmed up and started playing. Look how cute our butts are!

Peek a boo!

Riding a bike at grandmas 

Oooooh oooohh aaaaahh aaaahhh. I am a monkey 

Eddie (a minion) and Kaitlin (john Cena, a wrestler) and me a monkey 

Mommy daddy and I 

Kaitlin and I 

 

Riding the carousel. I wanted to ride on a dog! Go figure 

Mommy daddy and me selfie 

This was right before we left. It was getting cold!

Brrrrrrr! I am ready to leave!

My new hearing aid is going to look like a mix between these two models

Getting a mold taken of my ears for my new hearing aids. They filled my ears with moldable putty and then let it harden. (The pic is before they put the putty in). They gave me the rest to play with and of course I ended up trying to eat it. Mommy said she is happy that I will soon be able to hear Chewie fart because it's funny. 

Hearing Test Results

I feel like I am in the movie Ground Hog Day...Avery failed her hearing test yet again. We were hoping the allergy meds would clear up the fluid in her ears. The audiologist said her hearing was a teeny bit better than last time but she still suggests tubes or hearing aids.

Tim and I had a long discussion about what we should do. Its kind of like damned if you do and damned if you don't. If we don't do anything she will get even more behind. If we do get the tubes, she could have all of the horrible side effects like last time and be even more behind than if we did nothing. We have decided we are going to try tubes one last time and hope that the first time she had them was a fluke. We are waiting until late spring/early summer to get them. We don't want to have her be in the hospital, for an elective surgery during flu season or enterovirus 68 or even ebola. It's just not worth it. I think if Avery would catch the enterovirus, she would pretty much have no chance since kids that that are 4 and 10 years old have died from it.

We realized that it will probably be 7 months before Avery would get the tubes so we are going to try to get hearing aids for the mean time. We know they are expensive and I am hoping her insurances will cover it or some of it. Due to her two great insurances she has, we have been sooooo fortunate financially that if it doesn't cover it, I am ok with paying, no matter how expensive they are. If something is going to help Avery thrive, it is worth it.  I put a call in to her ENT doctor to get a referral for the hearing aid evaluation.

A picture from the NICU reunion. We are in the front, just to the left of the double stroller.

The guy sitting in the front with the tie is Dr. Firas Saker. He is the head of the NICU at Hillcrest.

Putting money in my new piggy bank. I may or may not have broken my old piggy bank.

Mmmm chips

I love dipping food into sauces or dips. 

Me and Great Grandma

 At the bridal shower for my (soon to be ) Aunt Lauren. I am in her wedding and going to be a flower girl! Aunt Lauren, Aunt Terri, Aunt Cheryl, Mommy and me

I don't need no stinkin' spoon

For some reason, every time I have a bottle now I have to drag a blankie around with me

 I don't know if I ever told you but I just love my dog, Chewie. He is my best friend.

I love snuggling with blankets and my bunny in bed

Bye bye!

NICU Reunion

It has been over 3 weeks and Avery is still coughing. We took her to the doctor on Wednesday and the doctor wanted us to increase Avery's breathing treatments and come back Thursday. We brought her back on Thursday and the doctor said Avery's breathing sounded better. We decided it would be best to make an appointment with a pulmonologist (lung doctor) since Avery has so many breathing issues. Also then we will be able to get Avery's breathing prescriptions (albuterol and pulmicort) covered by BCMH.

Last Sunday we went to my parent's house to celebrate my dad's birthday and then we went apple picking. Well we tried to go apple picking. Just our luck that they would be out of apples when we went. We stopped at a few fall festivals on the way home. At one of the festivals there was a game where you guess the amount of mini pumpkins in a basket. The next day I got a call saying I had won. I guessed 91 and there were 92. I won a $50 gift certificate to the garden center.

This past Saturday we attended a NICU reunion for babies born at Hillcrest in 2012. It was nice to see some of the families that we met a few years ago and we got to see how well everyone is doing. We also got to see one of Avery's primary nurses and her occupational therapist. I am happy I didn't see the nurse manager when I was there because I still don't think she had any right telling us we weren't at the Nicu enough. My friend said she saw her for a minute but luckily I did not.

Fall pictures with Daddy

 And Mommy

Playing with the ball

Playing doctor with Eddie

Family photo

I love guacamole!

I have been having a lot of tantrums ever since I turned two

Happy birthday Grandpa B!

Feeding my baby doll

Look I am a witch

Look at me! I look silly

Walking through the corn maze 

Posing with mommy 

Who said this corn maze was going to be fun?

Posing with daddy

Pumpkins everywhere. I am the cutest little pumpkin there is

This goat is pretty cute 

You need a hug!

I love baths!

Peek a boo!

Mommy and daddy have to give me breathing treatments when I sleep because I move around too much during the day. I must move around in my sleep too, notice I have one sock on and one sock off.

This is Michelle. She was one of my primary nurses when. I was in the Nicu.

Pictures with the princess

Mmmm Capri suns!

This is Victoria. She was my occupational therapist and helped me eat from a bottle. We tried 100's of bottles when I was in the Nicu. 

My friends sabrina and emme. They were in the Nicu the same time I was

Here is another pic of Lauren, Mikey (he was also in the Nicu the same time I was), mommy, Sabrina, Jen and Emme.

Now I carry a blanket around with me when I drink a bottle

Playing with my cousin Kassidy